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High winds are leading to downed trees and widespread power outages across eastern Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon, after snow squalls moved across the region earlier.
A wind advisory from the National Weather Service remains in effect for the region until 5 p.m. Winds of 20 to 30 mph will continue, with possible gusts of 40 to 50 mph, according to the advisory.
PECO reported just over 10,000 outages late Sunday afternoon across its service area in the Philadelphia region. The bulk of those — nearly 7,500 — were in Chester County.
In Berks County, more than 5,000 Met-Ed and PPL customers were without power as of 2:30 p.m., with Met-Ed having the bulk of those outages.
While the wind is causing problems, the threat of snow squalls has passed. Earlier Sunday, the weather service warned that “dangerous” squalls capable of causing near-whiteout conditions were moving across eastern Pennsylvania.
A snow squall warning that included southern parts of the Lehigh Valley expired at 11:45 a.m. Two separate warnings — one that included Montgomery and southeastern Berks counties, and another for Monroe and carbon counties in the Poconos — expired at 12:30 p.m.
Intense bursts of heavy snow and wind gusts greater than 35 mph were being produced by those squalls, leading to rapidly falling visibility, according to the weather service.
Snow showers are starting to move into parts of the area. Here is an estimate of timing. pic.twitter.com/746T6n3vw0
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 14, 2024
As the squalls moved across Pennsylvania, whiteout conditions were already reported Sunday morning across western and central portions of the state.
The weather service’s State College forecast office shared side-by-side photos from a PennDOT traffic camera, taken just 4 minutes apart, showing Interstate 80 in Clearfield County going from completely passable to snow-covered amid whitehout conditions.
These two images were taken 4 minutes apart on I-80 near the Clearfield exit. This is what we mean by rapid onset whiteout conditions and roads becoming slippery. Please avoid travel in snow squalls! #PAwx pic.twitter.com/nm1ngHl9yg
— NWS State College (@NWSStateCollege) January 14, 2024
Next storm
Looking ahead to the coastal storm expected to impact the region early this week, it’s no longer shaping up to be the blockbuster that some forecasting models were projecting just days ago. A rapid strengthening of the storm that would have led to higher snowfall totals is no longer expected.
“A widespread significant 6+ inch snowfall event is not anticipated based on latest guidance,” according to the forecast discussion from the weather service’s Mount Holly, N.J., office.
However, the region won’t go unscathed, and snow is now a near certainty for any precipitation that moves into our region, as the system will have enough cold air available, according to the forecast discussion.
The snow will likely start late Monday night, earlier than expected, and continue into Tuesday.
A 1- to 3-inch snowfall over most of the region is the likely outcome, according to the forecast discussion. However, the Lehigh Valley could be in the higher end of that range.
The weather service’s snowfall projection map released late Sunday afternoon shows most of Lehigh and Northampton counties expected to receive 3 to 4 inches of snow. Portions of eastern and northern Northampton counties could see slightly lower accumulation.
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